23 May 2018 | Worton Creek

Didn't stay long in Annapolis. We had a choice between one ten hour day or two five hours so chose the latter. We want to get down the Delaware River on Wednesday when conditions look favorable. Lots of people were staying or coming in to Annapolis for the Blue Angels who will be flying over tomorrow. [...]

21 May 2018 | Annapolis Maryland

We really enjoyed our stay at Calvert Marina. It was super chill and everyone was so nice to us. The loaner car is an ancient diesel Mercedes and you can't open the windows though. Luckily it was a cool rainy day when we took it to the supermarket and the windshield wipers worked. There's the Ann Marie sculpture garden that we walked to with lots of works on loan from the Smithsonian. The great thing about it is the way they are sited in the landscape. It was a nice walk even in the rain. Finally the sky started clearing yesterday and there was a good south wind so we came up to Annapolis and picked up a mooring at the city dock. This morning we passed a nice beach, obviously a park, with some picnic tables. It made me think how nice it would be to be able to take some time off and relax in a park. One thing about our cruising is that we never relax. We always have to think about the weather or tide or distance to the next destination, or what is the next destination. The list of worries goes on and on when you add in boat maintenance and provisioning. Do we have enough diesel? water? propane? bread? beer? I guess to those of you in the daily grind of work, errands, chores, eat, sleep, repeat this sounds a little self-indulgent. Well, our lives depend on how sound our boat is and how well we manage it. So it's not trivial and it's wearing us down. One thing we have learned from this trip is that we are not cut out for the life of living aboard. Some people thrive on it. We want a garden and a puppy. That being said, there are times at the helm when the wind hits my cheek just right, the sun shines, there's just the right tension on all parts of the boat, the water slides by like ice under a skateblade and it's all worth it. It's a state of flow that makes one happy to the core.

16 May 2018 | Solomons Island Maryland

Day before yesterday we left the Deltaville area in heavy fog and no wind under motor power and that lasted all day. The tedium was somewhat relieved by a visit from a little bird who caught and ate a lot of the flies that invade every time we go into the Chesapeake. (Identified as a female redstart by our friend, Nina)She left when we got close to land again. We decided to tuck into a creek on the north side of the Potomac instead of anchoring out in the open because every day this week has a forecast for thunderstorms. We dropped anchor between two marinas on Smith Creek, put up our mosquito nets and proceeded to cook a delicious meal of steak, corn and zucchini. Just as we were taking our first bites in the cockpit we were visited by a dinghy. The man asked if we knew about the weather forecast - we didn't - he said he noticed we were open to the west, that a severe storm with 50kt winds was approaching from that direction, and suggested that we go upstream around a bend which would protect us from the west. So many sailors are helpful like this, but it was really nice of him to take the trouble to warn us. And so we set aside our plates, raised anchor and moved. We also took down the mosquito nets and checked for anything that might blow away. There was plenty of time to finish eating and clean up before the rain started. It poured down buckets and thunder and lightning surrounded us but there was no big wind. We felt lucky, the bark was worse than the bite. Yesterday morning we got an early start out of there and were able to sail a good bit. There was a fighter jet that appeared to be practicing takeoffs and landings. It would take off, circle, land and repeat over and over. When we came up the Patuxent River to Solomons the wind picked up. Something about the sail in reminded me of sailing in the Kieler Bucht with Jens and Dorte. Maybe it was the curve of the land, maybe it was the military zones. It just kind of felt the same I'm not sure why but I was happy to remember that. We came to Calvert Marina, across the water from the more popular Zahniser’s and much less expensive. It turned out to be where the navy had its amphibious training base for WWII. It looks like someone is trying to make it into a retirement community but it hasn't quite worked out yet. There is lots of signage, including one for the planned pool, but not much actual building. The marina is serviceable but definitely not modern or luxurious. The price is the same as a mooring in Annapolis. The ambiance is late 1970s campground. If boats were campers they would be mostly popups, a few tents some larger RVs along with one or two airstreams. The bathrooms are clean and old. The whole place is mom and pop all the way. We seem to be the only transients here. There is a mallard duck couple who live on our dock. Every time we walk by they fly down into the water, but they always come back. There are also lots of geese here. Last night's storm came much later-around midnight with lots of wind but not quite as much lightning still buckets of rain. We've move into the Maryland part of the bay and are planning the next stage, through the C&D canal and down the Delaware River.

13 May 2018 | Deltaville Virginia

We thankfully arrived at Fishing Bay Marina before we were eaten alive by biting black flies. We thought we would have a nice sail up here, but after about an hour the wind died, the flies came around and the temperature started rising. It was well into the nineties before long (like 33C). All in all not a fun day of motoring into what appeared to be a typical marina on a small bay, of which there are many, many on the Chesapeake. There are just so many rivers, creeks and inlets along here it's no wonder they didn't have roads and went everywhere by boat. This marina and boatyard is actually quite big with lots of beautiful boats. The pool isn't open until Memorial Day though, a sure sign that we're no longer in the south. But we rode the loaner bikes into town past fields that have already been hayed so clearly more southern than Wisconsin. The hay here is Timothy and some sort of giant clover. We contacted the OCC port officers to see if they would drive us to the restaurant Merroir to eat oysters and they did. We learned of Merroir from a Splendid Table podcast about oysters. The story was about two brothers who started farming oysters in the Rappahannock River and their attempts to market them as the French market wine. Hence the name Merroir from the concept of terroir. It's not actually clear that oysters from different rivers taste different but it makes a good story. Anyway, when we were leaving Cape Charles a guy who helped us with the lines said if we were going to Deltaville we should go to Merroir and that's how we found out that there is a restaurant as well as the oyster farms. And Captain Story and his wife, Martha, came to meet us and drove the 12 miles to the restaurant where the oysters were excellent and they had a soft-shell crab special today. The weather is variable and unpredictable. Tonight it's actually quite cool. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

11 May 2018 | Cape Charles Virginia

Cape Charles is a sleepy little town near the southern tip of the Delmarva peninsula. It was started as a planned community in 1884 to support the end of the railway where freight and passengers were transferred to barges and steamers to cross the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk. The remnants of the train tracks where the cars were transferred to barges are still here, but since the sixties there's been a bridge/tunnel across the bay and trucks have taken over. The area is still mostly agricultural and there is still some fishing. The crab boats come in here and the refrigerator truck meets them to take their catch. Jack bought some crabs from the truck driver and we plan to have a crab boil on the dock here tonight. He would only sell us females because the price is so high right now. Females being $60/bushel and males being $160, our bucket full was $10. We went to the hardware store to get a steamer pot and some crackers for the claws. The crackers we had on the boat were all broken on the hard shelled French crabs a while back and we didn't have a big pot. The hardware store is a treat beginning with the occupied rocking chairs out front (3-4 old men) and continuing past the gun counter and through the crowded but complete stocks of anything you might think of. The guy working there asked if the crabs were hardshell and said if they were soft he'd be coming over--they're hard. The only other stores are tourist oriented, ice cream, knickknacks, candy, cafes. There is a large old public library though. We walked to the end of the main street then turned and walked until the sidewalks ended then looped around to where we started. These southern towns are small enough that we often end up walking not just by the large, in this town Victorian, houses but also by the smaller houses on streets with no sidewalks. It's different than a city where we just see one neighborhood. The town dock is nice with new floating pontoons, a large shower and toilet building, and a popular bar/restaurant. There's a coast guard station across the way and another marina being developed for megayachts. It's a retirement area with multiple golf courses around. Tomorrow we'll cross over to the western shore.

09 May 2018 | Hampton Virginia

We've had a pleasant visit to Hampton Virginia. There was a boat show at the marina we came into so there were lots of people looking at power boats. One of them, about 30 ft open cockpit, had four 350HP engines! There were other jaw droppers including the price tags. We didn't really look but passed [...]

Sirens and Chainsaws

23 January 2018 | Simpsons Bay St Maarten

The first thing I noticed on approaching St Maarten from the southeast was the shells of buildings, really just concrete shells with no windows or doors, just openings where glass used to be. The second thing I noticed was the flies. As soon as we anchored we realized the boat was full of flies. I think they are related to the trash from the hurricanes that is everywhere. We had a lively sail from St Kitts to Simpson Bay. We had originally planned to go to St Barths, but when we saw the wind direction somewhat northeast we decided it would be easier to head straight to St Martin and we made such good time that instead of stopping in Phillipsburg as planned we carried on to Simpson Bay and anchored outside the lagoon for a night. It could have been a mistake. We found out later that the only supermarket is a brand new Carrefour in Phillipsburg. Well not the only one, just the nicest. We tried contacting all the marinas in our guidebook because we wanted to move inside the lagoon so we could clean up the boat, do laundry, provision etc. Most didn't answer. We found out why after we got in. The one that did respond sent a tender out to meet us and lead us into the berth. On the way we passed wreckage upon wreckage. I saw what I thought was a very strange boat but on closer inspection realized was a sunken megayacht still attached to the concrete pier that had broken off with it. The marina we got into is billed as a luxury facility with all sorts of perks, but it actually only has water and electricity. There are some showers about 1/4 a mile away that you can get a key for, only cold water no electricity, no lights. There are no luxuries not even wifi. It's definitely built for megayachts. Our boat is half the size or less than any other boat here and we have some concern that with a big wind we could get pushed under the concrete dock. Our guidebook said the nicest supermarket was near here and there is supposed to be swimming pool, tennis courts, spas etc. along with internet on the docks. No, none of that. We have a concrete dock with water and electricity and we should be happy for that I guess. We hope to move to a less expensive place when a spot opens up. We went there today by dinghy. You go everywhere by dinghy here. I saw parents taking kids in school uniforms in dinghies. I thought they were using a crane to raise a sunken boat but actually they were clearing some broken and sunken docks. No wonder they didn't have space for us. Everywhere we went we saw wreckage along the shore, roofing panels, punctured inflatable boats, pieces of wood, metal, plastic. There's a cruisers net on the radio we listened to this morning and they thanked all the people who came out to a cleanup near a place called Witches Tit. It sounded like they salvaged a lot but also hauled away lots of trash. There's still a ton of cleanup to do, but in the chandlery the woman who checked me out said after they saw the conditions in Puerto Rico she felt like they're lucky here because of the quick recovery. That's not the same story we got from the security guard at a wrecked marina. He gave us directions to a grocery store where we could buy ice after telling us about how it had just been robbed. When Jack said, 'who would rob a supermarket in the middle of the day' he said since the hurricanes there's no work and people need to live. He said something about how Holland said they will give money but only after an election and that's not happening. So one sound we hear everywhere is sirens -- maybe because there's no work. The daytime sound we hear most is chainsaws. I'm guessing that it is getting more quiet. People are working hard to recover but it’s a massive undertaking. There are wrecked and sunken boats everywhere. Lots of them have ducktape covering holes. Some just have gaping holes in them. Some are just upside down hulls. Some are almost completely underwater. Hopefully most of those have been moved so we don't hit any. All of them are covered in mud. Most don't have masts or they're broken partway.
This is the first place we have been where the hurricane damage is overwhelming. There should be full employment with the clean up and rebuilding needed, but governments are either unable or unwilling to spend the money. There is lots of private money here as evidenced by the number of megayachts and their caretakers. Where we are the only people on boats are either full time captains and crews (usually a husband and wife) or people doing some work on the boat. Our boat at 38 feet is about half as big as any other boat here. So there is money but the boat owners are not enriching the community in a significant or long term way by investing in the infrastructure needs. Seeing the need here makes me sickened by the lack of support for Puerto Rico by the US where there should be full employment and the construction of distributed solar power so the people would have a more hurricane proof power supply. The actions of our government in that respect is criminal. The question is how and when people will be held accountable. I have been thinking a lot lately (and to some degree it is related to reading Mitchner's Caribbean) about race, corruption and the psychology of denial on the part of governments and individuals. It seems we are still wrestling with the role of reason versus philosophy as guiding principles. I grew up with the impression that we were a nation of reason, and on paper perhaps we are. But in practice we are still haunted by the philosophy of value being determined by birth, race and wealth, with the systematic exclusion of the majority of the population. What I do not understand is why people stand for this as the status quo and by what method we can effect change. Being in the Caribbean makes it clear how difficult it is to undo a culture of corruption and exploitation. It frightens me to see that culture ill gaining such a strong foothold in the States. Power and money are everything, historically and now, race is the tool by which power and money are attained and maintained. That is why the black lives matter movement is so important and so alarming to people because it cuts to the core of the structure of money and power.